Faces of RIMPAC, Thailand - Norway. Public domain image

160709-N-YW024-035 JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM (July 9, 2016)
Ens. Aya Kawano, from Kagoshima prefecture in Japan, serves as Assistant Engineering Officer aboard Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer helicopter ship JS Hyuga (DDH 181).
"When I was younger I often listened to my father's stories about naval history," said Kawano. "My father taught naval history and found it very interesting. My father and those stories were the reasons I joined the navy."

Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 30 to Aug. 4, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationship that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Katarzyna Kobiljak)